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Leisure retailer Alpine House will expand its Route 30 location to meet increased demand during and following the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We’ve had this kind of interest for years and it’s grown between the history of Clifton Park here and everything we do in the Capital Region,” said company president Andy Heck. “We are on a growth trajectory and the epidemic has taken it to another level.
Recreation was one of the winners because there weren’t many options for vacations because they could safely do things outdoors with their families.
To meet the demand, the company is expanding its location in Amsterdam by 15,000 square feet.
Heck said he owns the square where the company is located and used to operate a health club next to the company’s store on Route 30 in Amsterdam, but decided to close that to make more room for the retail store.
Alpine House, a family-owned business, was started by Bud Heck in 1964 with John Daly. Daly sold his interest in the company in 1994 to Andy and Greg Heck. The company started out as a ski equipment retailer, but naturally grew over the years to include other recreational options, including RVs, snowmobiles, boats and pools, Andy Heck said.
The company will build a new store on Route 86 in Wallkill, Orange County.
“It’s been in the works for a while, but we closed on the ground this week,” Heck said Wednesday.
This will replace the outgrown Port Jervis store, the company said.
Many of the recent developments have been camping, buying pools and RVs, or taking up skiing and other outdoor sports during the Covid season as school sports programs have been shut down and people can’t travel for a while.
While school sports teams are playing again and travel is on the back burner, people still want to enjoy camping, their own pools, and the pandemic’s pastimes like skiing.
“Every year we were growing a little bit more, but suddenly we saw a whole new enthusiasm for people outside of everything,” Heck said.
According to Heck, his family-oriented approach to the business has helped him continue to grow and gain recognition in the entertainment industry over the years.
“We’re going to focus on that,” he said. “I think we picked that up [more] “Maybe it’s because it’s more important to us than other businesses that do what we do,” he said.
Heck said almost everyone in his family has some pastime, including skiing.
“We have our family ski days and stuff like that,” he said.
The company has six locations in the Capital Region, Hudson Valley and New Jersey.
The company was recently named RVBusinessmagazine’s Top 50 Blue Ribbon Vendor and has received previous recognition, including the designation. Snow Sports Retailer of the Year; National High Quality RV Dealer of the Year; Ski-Doo Circuit Salesman of the Year; And it has been voted multiple times as one of the best places to work by the Capital District Business Review, according to an earlier press release from the company.
“It’s great and exciting, especially for our team who have worked so hard over the past two years,” he said. “Like everybody else, we’ve done well in labor organizing, but we’re falling a little short in labor mobilization, but not as horribly. So they’ve all had to work hard and I think it’s a bit of a feather in the cap to be recognized by our industry and our peers.
The company employs about 200 people.
Heck said he, like many other companies, is looking to see how the current economic situation will play out and the impact it could have on the business.
“We worry like everybody else because we’re consumers, so one of the things that people cut back on is what we sell when times are tough, so we’re definitely looking at that. At the same time, if we’re talking about economics, we know that people have jobs, so that’s the difference in this economic cycle. Americans are going on vacation. They love it, they love making things, so we think business will be good, but we don’t know.
Heck also says you have to factor in outdoor hobbies that many people don’t want to give up.
“We’ve seen that people who are considered white collar or blue collar, everybody wants to be outside,” he said.
Heck said some municipalities have started selling skis because they offer walking tours to the community.
They said that while they were expanding, they would face challenges in meeting the supply demand. It’s been an issue since things started to pick up during the outbreak.
“The good thing was that a lot of people wanted what we had, but the bad thing was that sometimes we didn’t know when we would get things or if we would even get things,” he said.
He said it was better to get in this summer, but there are some things they are having a hard time finding.
“Because a lot of what we do is global, on the ski side of the business we’re not going to get some of the entry-level ski boots this year — they’re not built for America,” he said. “We’re not getting some cross-country skis because they don’t build enough of them for the world.”
Heck said they will work with customers to find other options.
Despite the challenges, there have also been surprises, such as seniors returning to skiing, Heck said.
“Even people in their 50s and 60s are taking up skiing,” he said. “That was a lot of fun.”
He said many people come in eager to get back to what they did growing up with a smile and childlike giggles.
“They’re either doing it for their kids or their grandkids and that’s a great thing,” Heck said.
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